Ernie, you might want to check the parking/turn signal circuit grounds. Recently on my '54, the left turn indicator light was staying on solid when the parking lights were on. Checking, I found the left front parking light was out (turn signal worked OK.) Surprisingly, the bulb was good. Looking at the fixture, someone had painted both sides of the mounting flange and in some areas rust was building up around the 3 mounting screws. I filed off the rust and paint around the screw holes in the fixture. I also cleaned up the mounting screws. The condition disappeared after doing this! Checking the right side, the conditions were similar although the parking light was working. I filed and cleaned that side also as a preventive measure. It could be my imagination, but the parking lights and turn signals seem to be brighter now. Good luck in finding/fixing this.

Echoing Ross's comment above, I replaced the sender a few years back with one from Merritt. Had no complications develop in the remove/replace operation.

Regarding the tire size, 6.70 X 15 is way too narrow a tread for a 23rd Series Custom; that is a size for a smaller/lighter car such as a Chevrolet. According to the Coker Tire website, 8.20 X 15 (bias ply) or 235/75R15 (radial ply) tires are correct for your car. I suspect those 6.70s would be at least a contributing factor to the handling problems you are experiencing. Perhaps tire shopping should be the first item on your Custom's "to-do" list.

I recently found moths in my 1933 Packard sedan's interior. I didn't want to use mothballs so an online search turned up cedar as a natural moth repellant. Lowe's and Home Depot carry cedar planks in 15 square foot quantities for less than $30.00. The cedar packaging claims it repels moths, silverfish, cockroaches and mice. I placed the planks all around the interior. I isolated the planks so they aren't in direct contact with the upholstery or the carpeting just in case tree oil might seep out of the planking. It's only been a couple of weeks since it was installed, but I'm not finding any more moths so far, and the odor to me is much better than mothballs.


On the powertrain, any openings need to be sealed. The crankcase vent or road draft tube and the exhaust pipe being two obvious openings. Other possibilities are oil/transmission fluid dipstick and filler tubes along with the carburetor inlet if the dipsticks, caps and air cleaner are missing.

You're welcome, glad to have been of help.

You're welcome, Leeedy. Having great respect for the breadth and depth of your knowledge and witnessing how helpful you are to us Packard people, I'm happy to be able to share something, even something this trivial, in the interest of the accuracy your informed opinion is known for.

Attached are photos of the jack base top and underside for my 1954 Convertible. This was not with the car when I bought it, David Moe of Seattle Packard supplied it. The '54 jack & tool kit carries a different part number from the '51 through '53s, but it looks like the difference is the prior years included a spark plug wrench which is not listed for the '54s.

The triangular part of the base juts up 2 1/2 inches from the ground.

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Note the Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell reference ("Some Like It Hot"?).

The movie that starred Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe was "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," which was released in 1953. Jane Russell was not in "Some Like It Hot," and that film was released in 1959.

You're welcome and I hope you can source these pulleys quickly and easily.

As PackardDon and HH56 have reported, my '54 Convertible had no coolant pump pulley spacer either. I replaced the coolant pump a few years ago. The balancer/coolant pump drive pulley nestles into the balancer/power steering pump drive pulley and they are two different pulleys, not interchangeable. I've attached a couple of photos, hope they're helpful.

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